SKUNKED....

ipookie8 · February 2012

So... this morning... my dog decided to play with a kitty cat. Except, that kitty cat was not a kitty cat... It was a SKUNK. My guess? Direct face shot.

We honestly thought he was dying at first because he was gagging so harshly and coughing up foam. I poured water down his throat and all over his face & it seemed to help a bit.

The smell is indescribable. We didn't even know it was a skunk at first b/c it does not smell like roadkill skunk. It smells like putrid, rancid, death. After the bouts of dry heaving, watering eyes and stinging nostrils (btw-- ear plugs work GREAT in nostrils!) settled we began to bathe him.

We bathed him about 5 times in tomato juice (outside, with a hose...keep in mind we are in Wisconsin & it's still winter...brrr), then realized it did very little to neutralize the odor. Since it's so cold, we had to move indoors to bathe him in our shower (which has no flexible head, so I had to disrobe and join skunk-dog in the shower myself) Hubby had to leave for work, so he helped carry him into the tub and left me with the daunting task... THANK GOD for moms, because my mom came over with the ingredients for the next array of baths....

Next we bathed him in a solution of vinegar, baking soda and Dawn dish soap... this only helped a little.

Then we bathed him in hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Dawn. Bingo. It did the trick to get most of the scent out, but now my whole house smells like a skunk-bomb went off and I even smell a bit skunky...

I guess my question is, this won't affect the baby will it? I'm not sure what kind of "natural chemicals" are in skunk oils. I'm certain they sunk into my flesh as I can't get the smell out from my hands and under my fingernails... The worse part was basically dry heaving and coughing/gagging from the smell... but it's not like I ingested the skunk oils (to my knowledge...lol).

MelissaV10 · February 2012

You have my sympathy! Skunk smell is AWFUL. The skunk oil won't hurt the LO, it's made to taste terrible and sting a bit in the eyes but other wise is just a horrible scent!

judahsmommy1 · February 2012

How gross! That sounds like one of the least fun ways to spend a morning. I highly doubt there's anything really dangerous about it. I might be a little more concerned if you were sprayed directly. It might be worth a quick call to your doctor though. Glad the dog smells better. Hopefully the smell in the rest of the house fades fast.

ipookie8 · February 2012

MelissaV10:
You have my sympathy! Skunk smell is AWFUL. The skunk oil won't hurt the LO, it's made to taste terrible and sting a bit in the eyes but other wise is just a horrible scent!

Thank God. This makes me feel much better.

All morning I bathed the poor dog (from 6am til 9am) and I guess the bending and scrubbing was more hard on me than the smell... But LO is moving all over in there now... I keep joking that she probably smells it too...haha

Tash13 · February 2012

That stinks (literally)!! Pet stores (like petco) have a shampoo specifically made for skunk spray. You might try picking some up if the smell isn't gone yet.

SBmomma · February 2012

UGH! Hate that smell...especially when a dog gets sprayed! I remember when my German Shepherd got skunked...I wasn't even pregnant and I was gagging.

Here's a little tip. The one thing that REALLY gets the stench out is bathing your dog with feminine hygene wash!! My old landlords told me, so I went to the store, bought a couple bottles of Summers Eve wash and it seriously took away the smell!!! Just let it sit on your dog for about 10 minutes before rinsing. :-)

ipookie8 · February 2012

SBmomma:
UGH! Hate that smell...especially when a dog gets sprayed! I remember when my German Shepherd got skunked...I wasn't even pregnant and I was gagging.

Here's a little tip. The one thing that REALLY gets the stench out is bathing your dog with feminine hygene wash!! My old landlords told me, so I went to the store, bought a couple bottles of Summers Eve wash and it seriously took away the smell!!! Just let it sit on your dog for about 10 minutes before rinsing. :-)

lol thanks for the tip!! gonna douche my dog when I get home! lol

kaybee10 · February 2012

My goodness, what a terrible way to spend your morning, ugh!! I'm so sorry your dog got sprayed and I really hope the smell leaves your house quickly -that's got to be horrible! I have no advice in this situation besides I would think that lo is ok, thats pretty funny you said the smell is so strong even she can smell it! I know roadkill smells awful so this must be bad!

biesecke · February 2012

I wasn't pregnant at the time, but my parent's sheltie was sprayed twice with a skunk shortly before our wedding....the only thing my mom felt worked was the hydrogen peroxide mixture, the vet had given her this liquid to wipe on her face for the smell, and I thought that stuff smelled worse! The smell in the house unfortunately took a very long time to go away, even with my mom using tons of deodorizing products. Every time I went to their house I could still smell the underlying smell, and you are right, it doesn't smell like what you smell when you drive by it! Good luck, I hope the repeated washings helped, I know it took a long time for the smell to completely go away with the long hair!

ipookie8 · February 2012

kaybee10:
My goodness, what a terrible way to spend your morning, ugh!! I'm so sorry your dog got sprayed and I really hope the smell leaves your house quickly -that's got to be horrible! I have no advice in this situation besides I would think that lo is ok, thats pretty funny you said the smell is so strong even she can smell it! I know roadkill smells awful so this must be bad!

Ugh, tell me about it

I hope it leaves the house quickly too.. I'm sort of paranoid that the scent is going to be stuck there forever b/c DH just painted the nursery...

LOL-- I swear she must have smelled it :P

I would WELCOME the roadkill smell compared to this smell -.-

ipookie8 · February 2012

biesecke:
I wasn't pregnant at the time, but my parent's sheltie was sprayed twice with a skunk shortly before our wedding....the only thing my mom felt worked was the hydrogen peroxide mixture, the vet had given her this liquid to wipe on her face for the smell, and I thought that stuff smelled worse! The smell in the house unfortunately took a very long time to go away, even with my mom using tons of deodorizing products. Every time I went to their house I could still smell the underlying smell, and you are right, it doesn't smell like what you smell when you drive by it! Good luck, I hope the repeated washings helped, I know it took a long time for the smell to completely go away with the long hair!

Oh no! I hope the scent leaves the house ASAP... lol its horrid.

Josie22 · February 2012

The Mythbusters tested this. Here's their results. https://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/animals/skunk-smell.html

The mixture you used was the best they found too. Good news, you can use it to clean floors, tubs, walls, laundry and anything else you think might be harboring the smell.

tyla1111 · February 2012

So random - but I had a dream about my dog getting skunked last night!

ipookie8 · February 2012

tyla1111:
So random - but I had a dream about my dog getting skunked last night!

LOL

Crispity · February 2012

I'm so sorry! I really don't think it will harm your LO, but I know exactly what you're going through. My dog has been sprayed twice, and our house has been skunked several times when skunks dug under our front porch and sprayed the foundation. The smell is exactly as you described, and WAY worse than roadkill skunk smell. It hasn't happened since I've been pregnant, but I know it made me nauseous, so I can only imagine how it would be with the heightened sense of smell!

For the dog, after bathing her for hours and using the hydrogen peroxide mix, we took her to a groomer for a "skunk bath". This helped, but she was still a little bit stinky for a week or so (you could only smell it if you deliberately sniffed where she had been sprayed).

For the house, my advice is to open up all of the windows for as long as you can stand (sucks, I know - this has always happened to me in the winter). We also cleaned the path through the house that the dog had taken on the way to the shower, as I think some of the oils had dripped off of her. I mopped the tile floors with a bleach solution, and vacuumed the carpets with powdered carpet cleaner. We also set out bowls of coffee beans and apple cider vinegar (supposed to help absorb the odor), and used a LOT of scented candles.

The scent got much better after leaving the windows open for the better part of a day, and gradually faded after that. When this has happened to us, the smell is usually gone after 3-4 days. Good luck, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this!

knsh11 · March 2012

I'm sorry you're dealing with this.

When I lived on our farm, our dog got sprayed several times. Since he got sprayed close to the house, we could never open the windows. We put dryer sheets all over the house. They seemed to capture/trap the scent. I think we changed them a couple times the first day.

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